Twenty-two month old triplets

our little artists...

So our triplets are now 22 months old.  I started this post two weeks ago and am just now getting it up.  I've noticed that over the past couple weeks, when people ask how old they are I say "they'll be two in October." rather than saying they're 22 months.  Maybe it's my own way of mentally preparing myself for that day!?!  Anyway, they are getting so big and doing and saying new things every day.  Michelle's family saw them at fourth of July and then again three weeks later and they were all shocked by how much more they were all talking. It is not at all uncommon now to hear three word sentences coming out of their mouths.  And they love to talk and love to listen to us talk about things we have done and people we know.  Whenever they start to get fussy in the car we try two things, 1) singing songs or 2) talking about people/things we've done.  They are very empathetic kids and whenever anyone is sad they want to talk about it over and over again! They have incredible memories.  And like most almost two year olds, a lot of what they say is pretty hard, if not impossible to understand.  With context we know what they are saying maybe 90% of the time, but without context, like when they are talking about things we did months ago, our understanding drops precipitously!  All three of them have started this cute thing of saying "mommymama, mommymama." And they are starting to talk to each other and play with each other a lot more too.

They have also gotten a lot faster, which can be tricky when they all head different directions!  All three have also learned to jump off the ground with both feet over the past two months, though only Ellie does it every time.  They are much more adventurous on playgrounds now too.  It is fun to watch them try new things.  (Stay tuned for an upcoming post about parenting on the playground!) They like doing more fine motor activities too like painting and coloring and puzzles now too. Over the past month we went "all in" with potty training and they're all doing very well.  It is far from perfect or stress free, but we are out of diapers completely when they are awake.  We still do diapers for naps and overnight, but they sometimes wake up dry, especially Ellie.  I'll have to write a post soon about the experience of potty training triplets! Oh yeah, and they learned to swim this summer.  Be sure to check out the video if you haven't seen it yet!  And I'm posting a new one tonight too!  They've really grown up a ton this summer!

taken 6/4/15

6 weeks later

Ellie

Ellie belle is getting so big!  She is definitely the biggest of the trio.  Ellie does like to eat, but she can get pretty finicky, especially at breakfast!  The girl does NOT like eggs 90% of the time, but then on random mornings she will gobble them up and ask for more.  Oh toddlers and their eating habits! Ellie has cut all four of her canines this month, but they are taking a long time to push through.  As they were emerging she went through a pretty rough period of biting, but that seems to be improving now.  This little girl LOVES her baby dolls and the color pink!  She is particularly obsessed with the "pink baby!"  She loves to push her baby around in the stroller that Grandma Stephen bought for them at a yard sale and put them to bed in a little crib.  The annoying thing is that she constantly asks us to do it for her and as soon as we put the baby in the stroller she takes it out and immediately asks us to do it again!  She likes to "pick" out her own dress/outfit in the morning and rarely chooses anything that isn't pink.  Ellie has a cute little voice and she was the first one to switch from calling Isaiah "Aya" to "A-yay-yah." She has gotten really good at counting to ten and can pretty much do it all by herself though she likes to do it with us.  Ellie LOVES to jump!  She is the best at jumping with two feet and wants to do it all the time, especially in the pool!  Ellie likes to practice things over and over to learn them.  She likes to play catch and worked very hard at learning to catch a ball.  She isn't as much of a water lover as the other two, but she has also learned to swim under water a couple feet by herself in the past couple weeks.

Avery

 

She may be our littlest peanut but it is not for lack of eating.  This girl could eat all day long.  She is definitely a grazer, but at some meals she can really pack away the food and we wonder where she puts it all!  She is also obsessed with nursing lately and gets pretty ticked when it's time to be "all done milk."  Speaking of, in a recent post we talked about how Avery tends to be pretty even keeled, but that is less and less the case lately.  Her tantrums tend to be pretty short, but they are happening pretty frequently when life doesn't go her way.  And let me tell you, this girl has ideas about how things should be and isn't afraid to tell you!  Avery probably has the most unique three word phrases of the bunch.  She really has a knack for words and grammatical structure.  Over the past month she has started using pronouns like "I" and "he" and has added -ing to verbs so now when we're out and about she'll just comment on the world around her and say "he's running."  She loves to "talk" and particularly likes us to talk about her little friend Noah.  Avery is a little fish!  The girl is gutsy and will jump off the bench in the pool and will even jump off the side of the pool.  And she will do it over and over again.  Unlike the other two Avery hasn't cut any new teeth yet. Avery is also our little baby and animal lover.  She spots doggies everywhere and wants to pet every single one. She also likes to pet babies! =)

Isaiah

He is a funny little boy.  Isaiah loves to be silly and watch your reaction.  His new thing is that he likes to jump up and instead of landing on his feet he just lands straight on his butt like he is on a trampoline, only he will do it straight onto the floor!  He loves to do it and just look at us and crack up.  Isaiah was the last one to learn to climb out of his crib, but the sleep sack worked wonders to keep him in the crib.  In fact, a few times he would start climbing out while I was still in the room and I would ask him if he needed his special blanket and he said yes.  So I put it just over his arms and didn't even put his legs in or zip it and he just laid down and went right to sleep!  So cute!  Isaiah's little voice is adorable.  He continues to be our biggest babbler and can go on long tangents with an intelligible word sprinkled in here and there!  He language has really blossomed this summer.  His cutest phrase hands down is "bye bye. see ya!" which he says repeatedly because he likes to to leave a room and then come back. He has a lot to say, but when he is even a little bit upset he has a really hard time using any of them! Isaiah has been in a rut lately of waking up from a great afternoon nap super duper crabby. =(  And sometimes he just wants to cuddle, but other times even when I try to cuddle him he throws a fit.  He has made huge progress with sleeping lately (see this post for more info), which has been a huge relief, though we do still have our occasional early morning snuggles. Isaiah also cut all four of his canines recently though there are just barely through the gums.  Since both of his sisters get to pick dresses hanging up in the closet he wanted to wear dresses too.  So we hung up all of his rompers and so now if you ask him what he wants to wear he will often say "dress." =)  And really, they are mostly like a dress because with this whole potty training gig we rarely snap the snaps!

These three continue to keep us on our toes!  Truly, they are all incredibly funny, loving, and sweet kiddos.  They are also wiley, busy, and testing little toddlers.  So ya know...on our good days, well, in the good moments, they are just a joy to be with and we love watching them interact with each other...and in the not-so-good moments they make us want to pull our hair out and run away.  But we never will, because, really, we can't imagine it any other way.  We are so lucky to have these three amazing almost two year olds in our lives.

 

Happy Half Birthday! 18mo wrap up

Wow!  Our babies are one and a half!  They are getting so big so fast!!!  They certainly are becoming their own little people with lots of their own ideas!  It's been fun to watch them starting to expand their play.  The tricky thing is that they are also starting to talk about things that aren't present, which is challenging because we still can't understand a lot of what they say!  Since our big trip to Seattle these kiddos can't get enough of being outside!  Thankfully the weather is starting to warm up so we can actually do it.  They're all starting to run a lot more now and are getting fast!

 Sleep continues to be a big challenge still 18 months later.  Isaiah went through a really rough patch where even when he woke up & was standing in his crib crying, he didn't settle when we picked him up and instead would ramp up even more and basically throw an all out tantrum, arching his back and screaming.  Thankfully he seems to have moved past that and generally snuggles in when I pick him up but he and Avery are still up at least twice every night and sometimes three times.  When they have a bad night then Ellie has a bad night and Ellie really needs a solid 12 hours of sleep to function.  And when she doesn't get it she can be pretty whiny and clingy the next day.  They are interacting with each other more and more every day and are often quite sweet to each other.  I got Isaiah's bear hoodie on him the other day and he walked the walrus over to Avery & handed it to her and then insisted Ellie take the dino hoodie (the ones they most often wear).  And there are lots of random "gentle touches" where they rub another kiddo's head or give them a "ba-ruh" (aka backrub).  It's really fun to watch!  Here's a video of Isaiah feeding Avery at dinner the other night and some other shots of them interacting.

kisses!

feeding the dog puppet blocks together

wrestling over the rugby ball

I attempted to get an 18 month group shot, but, well, group shots where everyone is looking and not cranky are incredibly difficult to get!  So here are some of the best ones!

everybody is looking!

Avery pointing out her pony

Ellie was over it, but Avery looks cutest in this one so had to include it

Isaiah

Our little dude has really grown up the past couple of months!  He has been making huge developmental strides, particularly in language.  Isaiah is quite the chatterbox these days!  He just jibber jabbers non stop though we can't really understand any of it!  He reminds me a lot of my little brother Matt when he was little with his non-stop talking. He does have about 50 words now though that we can understand, which is what you hope kids will have by 18 months.  He's even starting to put two words together every now & then.  Tonight he scooped a big bite of dinner and said "big bite!"  So cute!  He is our most skilled user of utensils and works hard to scoop and poke his food at meals.  He is also our little outdoor explorer.  He loves to wander and isn't afraid to go fairly far from us, which is a little scary because we have three kiddos to keep an eye on, but I also love seeing him just be brave and take off on his mini adventures.  Isaiah can be really sweet to his sisters, but sometimes he gets this mischievous look on his face & will do something he knows will annoy them.  Isaiah is still our biggest music lover and random dancer.   We started music class (a Christmas gift from my mom & dad) a few weeks ago and the LOVE it!  I'll have to write another post about music class soon, but he is a music class rockstar!  He really pays attention and imitates the teacher and other kids.

peek-a-boo!

"what?! "
just ridin' my giraffe listening to some tunes....

goofy boy wearing sunglasses in the tub!

my little outdoor adventurer!

buckethead!

Ellie

Ellie-belle really likes her personal space these days.  She can get quite the squeal/pterodactyl scream when one of her siblings touches her or snatches a toy, particularly if she has just woken up or hasn't gotten enough sleep in general.  Ellie loves her morning snuggles with mama and wants to snuggle for at least ten minutes before she wants to nurse. Really she likes to snuggle a lot throughout the day.  Lately if we're out & about she will go explore or play and then come running back to give me a big leg hug.  It's so cute! When she's not being snuggly though she can play independently quite nicely. She likes to walk holding hands and will just hold her hand out waiting for us to grab it.  Ellie is a big fan of her stuffed animals these days and carries them around.  They are all starting to really grasp the concept of ownership now and Ellie thinks it is really funny when we ask her who something belongs to.  The other day Michelle asked Ellie if the cup of coffee was hers and Ellie said "nooooo" and proceeded to say "noooo" over and over when asked if it was Isaiah's or Avery's and she seems to get a kick out of the ridiculous questions like "is it Humphrey's coffee" and will laugh while she says "nooo!"  Ellie has a ton of new words too and busts out new words at least once a day.  We can't keep track anymore!  Ellie also makes some hysterical faces these days!  She's sooo expressive with her face!

just hangin' at the park

the run back to mom & hug her legs smile

one of soooo many goofy faces

happy girl!

"cheese!

Avery

Our little peanut is the queen of pushing boundaries.  She knows the rules and likes to push the boundaries multiple times a day.  Michelle and I are frequently using our behavior analysis skills we learned during our time at the autism center!  There are times when it is clear that she is just looking for our reaction, so if it's not too dangerous we do a lot of ignoring.  Avery really likes interacting with adults and when she's not being a stinker to get attention she is being super duper cute!  She can really turn on the charm and does lots of sweet things like giving unsolicited hugs and backrubs. She also gives her siblings some great hugs and kisses.  Avery is going through a separation anxiety thing particularly related to naptime and bedtime.  She anticipates it coming and starts trying to stall with one more book, or milk, or "poop."  The request for the potty is the worst because we want to do anything we can to support them using the potty, but sometimes it very clearly seems like a stall tactic!   The great thing about Avery is that despite her sleep challenges she is rarely in a bad mood.  Sometimes she wakes up sad, but it doesn't usually last long and she is back to her happy even-keeled self. And like the other two she can bust out some goofy faces these days.  Her latest is that if she notices you are taking her picture she will give a big cheesy grin & instantly turn away from you as if to say "haha!  look how cute your picture could've been!"  Avery is also starting to sing since starting music class and it's super cute to listen to her little voice.  She has a big vocabulary now and is pretty persistent with helping us understand what she is talking about by adding gestures and showing us things when she can.  Avery continues to be our little gross motor girl and lately has been determined to be able to walk up and down short steps without holding onto anything.  She's taken a couple of tumbles, but she keeps trying and has mastered up to three steps in a row.

silly baby!

playing dress up

cheesin' it up in Hope's hat

another silly baby in sunglasses

safety first!

Play Expansion

Over the past month or so it has been fun to watch the babies play start to expand.  They are really starting to play with the baby dolls they got for their birthday and it is really cute.  The babies like to give the babies hugs and kisses and Avery likes to rock her babies. It cracks me up to see them lifting their babies up and putting them on their head or holding them upside down.  I joked with Michelle that if someone was evaluating their play with dolls they might not get credit for the pretend play skills like feeding and caring for babies (though they do like the hugs & kisses), but they actually do a great job imitating what we do with them!  I'm always tossing them up in the air, putting them on my head, and flipping them upside down. =)  Now, I don't typically carry them by one leg upside down like they often do with their babies (okay, maybe it's happened once or twice!), but it is funny to think about the models they have for how to interact with babies. =)  We play "blast off" with our kiddos where we hold them by the hips and count down before blasting off and lifting them up.  And they will now do that with their dolls.  We can say "do you want to play blast off with your baby?" and they will all lift their babies up in the air.  It's so cute.  We have started modeling feeding the babies over the past couple weeks and now they like to pretend to feed the babies with little forks or spoons.  Although as soon as I gave them little bottles to feed the babies with they spent the majority of the time with the bottles in their own mouths! 

Isaiah hugging his baby

Avery's baby getting a BIG kiss!

Ellie giving the baby a bottle

Here's a video of them pretending in the bathtub the other day.  They all wanted to get in the tub at 3:30 the other day and that isn't bath time so we just put them in with all their clothes on.  They thought it was hilarious.  We had to give them the ideas for pretending, but it was still fun to watch them try to do things sans water!

They've also started to show interest in "dress up" and wearing silly hats.  When we pulled out the Christmas decorations we put the Santa hat and reindeer antlers in their play area.  They all wanted to wear them and tried hard to figure out how to put them on themselves.  It was hilarious to watch them try to figure this out.  

Avery wears the hat the longest

Ellie trying to get it on herself...so close =)

"I know Mom put these on my head somehow..."

tricky antlers!

He was so happy to wear this hat even though I didn't catch it on camera!

Ellie has been particularly into wearing things and loves to try to wear whatever she can find.  She loved getting into the swim bag and trying to put on our swimsuits.  The other day she was parading around the living room wearing a ring sling baby carrier like a princess sash.  And the   girls have been loving crawling and walking around the bedroom wearing their hooded towels after bath time.  The orange bucket in the playroom often ends up on someone's head too.  Not sure what it is about buckets that draws kids to put them on their heads, but their big cousin Abigail loved wearing a bucket on her head too!

Ellie sporting Mommy's swim top

Sooooo happy

parading giraffe

Ellie put her towel on by herself...
checking herself out in the mirror

PJs half on & a towel...good look bud!

happy little dude in silly glasses from Auntie Jess

little Miss Buckethead

They've also been initiating a lot more social play with each other and us.  They like to play peek-a-boo with us and eachother and have been really cute looking at each other in and out of the little tunnel.  They have also started initiating rough and tumble play and tickling by "getting" us or each other.  When they are "getting us" they will just come up and dive onto us.  This doesn't always go over very well when they do it to each other, but there have been times when the recipient (usually the baby laying on the floor for a diaper change or when getting jammies on) actually enjoys being gotten and will crack up.  We are still working on the idea of appropriate places to get and tickle each other (i.e. not on the face!), but it is pretty cute to watch them initiating this with each other!